


Two Suns

by Kiatulips



Category: BanG Dream! Girl's Band Party! (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Royalty, F/F, Kissing
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-06-23
Updated: 2019-12-31
Packaged: 2020-05-16 18:35:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 9,207
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19323781
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kiatulips/pseuds/Kiatulips
Summary: Princess Rinko Shirokane has always been told to sit and look pretty, only to speak when spoken to, and to not drag the Shirokane name through the ground. Rinko sometimes wishes her life was different, but at least Princess Kokoro Tsurumaki is there to keep her spirits up, though technically she and Rinko aren't supposed to be hanging out together.





	1. Talks at Night

Life for Rinko has always been about sitting and looking pretty. Always dressed up in beautiful dresses with tiaras on her head, always doing her best to act like a proper princess so her mother wouldn't scold her, always staying silent so as to not drag the Shirokane name through the ground. 

It all became rather tiring. 

Rinko laid down on her bed that night, wondering why she couldn't have been born into a different family. Maybe one that wasn't royal or strict. 

'I'm sick of..all of this..' She found herself thinking. 

The sound of something tapping against her window broke her thought process and she looked over, not surprised to see princess Kokoro smiling and waving. 

Kokoro has been sneaking out at night and visiting her since they were children. Rinko's mother wasn't too fond of her, thinking of her to be a bad influence on Rinko since she is not 'ladylike', and as such didn't allow Rinko and her to hang out at all. So they've resorted to spending time with one another at night.

Rinko gave the blonde a small smile and opened up her window, grabbing the princess's hand and helped her in as quietly as possible. In that moment, with Kokoro's hand in her own, she wondered if she would have lost it if Kokoro didn't visit her each night. 

The two sat down on Rinko's bed, their hands pulling away from one another. "So, how was today? Full of smiles, I hope!" Kokoro said, a smile still present on her face. 

"I did smile..but it didn't feel like a real smile." Rinko said, and Kokoro stayed quiet as she waited for Rinko to elaborate on that, swinging her legs and bouncing a little on her bed. "Today..mother had me meet this prince from another kingdom..I smiled a lot and spoke when I had to..even though it all felt like too much." 

Kokoro stopped bouncing. "My mother had me meet with a prince recently!" 

"Did she..ask something of you too?" Rinko asked quietly, wondering if they were being too loud. 

"Yeah! Did your mother ask you to marry a man you never met before too?" 

Rinko nodded, remembering how her heart sunk when her mother brought up marriage. She wanted to run far away. She wanted to go to a place where no one would find her. 

"At first, I thought it was a joke, so I laughed a whole lot! That just made my mother mad though." Kokoro then frowned, something Rinko was pretty sure she's never seen Kokoro do before. It was always smiles and laughter with the blonde. "..I don't want to marry that man. He doesn't like to read picture books or sing! He's just some stick in the mud who talks all monotone and is so, so, so boring! Not once did I see him smile!" 

Kokoro had gotten a bit loud there and Rinko nervously looked over at her door, expecting her mother to barge through any second and demand to know what Kokoro was doing here in her room so late. But a few minutes passed and it was silent. No angry mothers bursted through the door at all. 

"It's okay, I'm a master at hide and seek. She would never find me." Kokoro whispered, placing her hand on top of Rinko's, seeming to understand what Rinko was worried about. "So anyway, what was your prince like?" 

Rinko stared at their hands, feeling like someone just placed her inside of a volcano. 'Her hand..is on top of mine..it's so warm..' 

Kokoro tilted her head to the side a little, looking at the other princess with slight confusion. "Rinko?" 

"Oh, sorry! Um.." She thought of today's events, remembering how bored the prince looked, as if someone told him he had to watch paint dry and Rinko was that paint. "He seemed very disinterested in it all..he didn't even look at me." 

"How could he not look at you?" Kokoro said all of a sudden, catching Rinko off guard. 

"Um..well..uh.." She tried to form words, but she was staring at Kokoro instead of thinking of what she should say, and it was then she realized just how yellow Kokoro's eyes are. 'It's like..two suns are in her eyes..so pretty..' 

"Rinko?" Kokoro waved a hand in front of Rinko's face. She blinked and felt her face get warm. "I'm sorry, Kokoro..I didn't mean to.." 

"It's okay! And you know what? I just remembered this really cool place I wanna show you!" She said, getting off the bed and grabbing Rinko's hand, pulling her up. "Let's go!" 

"What? Wait, no! Kokoro, we can't leave, what if my mom--" Rinko tried to protest, they've never went anywhere during these visits before and the idea of her mother seeing a bed with no Rinko in it scared the princess. What kind of punishment will she have to face if her mother finds out she left with the girl she isn't supposed to be hanging out with? 

"It'll be fine, I promise! You'll love it!" Kokoro opened up the door and tiptoed out of Rinko's room.

"No, Kokoro, please.." Rinko whispered, following her out as quietly as possible. Her heart was beating so fast that she wondered if it would wake her mother up. 

Kokoro looked back at Rinko for a second and soon after began doing some funny walk. 

Rinko covered her mouth with her hand to keep from laughing as Kokoro's walk got more and more sillier with each passing second. 

Kokoro looked back at Rinko again, a big smile on her face. 

By the time they reached the door that would lead them outside, the dark-haired princess felt like she would just burst out into laughter any second as Kokoro continued to act silly. 

The blonde continued her funny walk as she approached the door that would get them out of here and swung it open. She grabbed Rinko's hand again once she had closed the door and began to run. 

"It's not too far from here, but I want you to see it as soon as possible!" 

Rinko ran with Kokoro, holding onto her hand tightly as thoughts swirled around in her head. 'What is this place she wants to show me..will my mom find I'm not sound asleep in bed..what if she finds out..what will she do to me..will she--' 

"Aaaand we're here!" Kokoro said, snapping her out of her thoughts. It was then the dark-haired girl realized just how out of breath she was. How much running had they done? She tried to catch her breath as she looked around at where Kokoro has brought her. 

"It's..a lake.." Rinko said, staring at it. She then noticed the many fireflies that were flying around the lake, they were like flickering balls of light. She looked up at the moon that was shining brightly above them. Then, she looked at Kokoro, who was smiling as usual. 

"So? What do you think? I come here all the time! It's the most prettiest and coolest place ever! It just makes me want to do a million cartwheels and sing as loudly as I can!" Kokoro said as she proceeded to do multiple cartwheels. 

Rinko watched her, a smile beginning to form. "You're right..it's very beautiful.." 

Kokoro stopped her cartwheels long enough to notice the smile. "Oh, you smiled! You smiled, Rinko! It's not often that you do that!" She said excitedly. 

"Really?" She asked, a bit surprised. She doesn't smile that much? She hadn't noticed. 

"Really!" Kokoro then looked at the lake. "Oh, we should go swimming!" 

"But we don't have bathing suits..just these nightgowns.." Rinko said, looking down at her nightgown and wondered what her mother would think if she wakes up, sees Rinko's bed is empty, then when she finally returns her nightgown is all wet. "I don't think..we should go swimming.." 

"Aw..well, okay, then let's sing!" 

"Oh, but..I'm not very good at singing.." Rinko said, convinced she wasn't as good as Kokoro when it came to singing. 

"Yes, you are! I've heard you sing before and you sound really, really good!" Kokoro grabbed both of Rinko's hands. "Come on, let's sing together!" 

Rinko felt her face getting red as she nodded. "Well, alright..just this once.." 

"Yay! What song do you want to sing?" 

Rinko thought for a moment. "Do you know..Ringing Bloom?" 

Kokoro nodded. "Yes, of course!" 

"Then..let's sing that one." 

Together, Kokoro and Rinko sang Ringing Bloom as the fireflies danced around the lake. 

When they were finished, Rinko kissed Kokoro on the lips, not really giving the action any thought before doing it. 

When she realized what she was doing, she quickly ended the kiss and took a few steps back, wishing then that she could just throw herself into the lake and never come back up. "Kokoro, I'm so sorry, I don't know what I was thinking, I was caught up in the moment and--" 

Kokoro placed her hands on the other girl's cheeks and kissed her. The kiss lasted for several seconds before the two pulled away. "Did I do that right? I've seen people do it like that in movies!" 

Rinko was speechless. She couldn't believe that even happened. Maybe she was actually in her bed and this was all a dream. "Um..yes.." Was the only thing she could think of to say. 

"Let's do that again!" Kokoro giggled as she kissed Rinko once again, the kiss lasting longer than last time. 

They pulled away once more and Kokoro wrapped her arms around Rinko, hugging her. "Now I really don't want to marry that boring man.." 

"I don't want to..get married either." Rinko could feel tears begin to well up in her eyes. "But..mother wants me to.." 

Kokoro was quiet for a few moments, before suggesting something that Rinko had thought of doing many times before. "We can run away." 

Rinko buried her face into the blonde's shoulder, wanting to hide her tears. "But mother..she'll find me..and you..and then--" 

"I'm a master of hide and seek! She'll never know where we are!" Kokoro held Rinko close to her. "I promise." 

"Please..if I run away with you..don't let her find me.." Rinko sobbed. "I don't want to get married..I can't do it, I can't, Kokoro..it's all too much..all of it..it's so tiring..I love you, I want to be with you..not him.." 

Kokoro looked at the lake as she ran her fingers through Rinko's hair. "I know..I won't let her find us." 

"She said..that you were a bad influence..but I never saw how you were.." Rinko could remember when she was a little girl and Kokoro insisted that they dance, even though Rinko didn't know how to dance. She could remember trying to figure out how any of that was a bad influence on her. 

"I didn't either..I still remember when my mother told me I couldn't see you anymore.." Kokoro laughed a little. "I'm glad I didn't listen! Now, come on, Rinko..smile for me! Your smile looked so pretty last time!" 

Rinko raised her head and wiped her tears away. She looked at Kokoro, who had a small smile on her face. A smile then tugged at her lips when Kokoro began to do that silly walk again. 

"Kokoro, what are you.." Rinko began to laugh when the walk got more and more sillier once again. "Stop it, my sides..are starting to hurt!" 

Kokoro was laughing as well. "I got you to smile and laugh!" 

Their laughter soon died down once they realized they should be heading back home soon. 

"Tomorrow night, we'll come here again and figure out what to do from there." Kokoro kissed Rinko's cheek. "Okay?" 

Rinko nodded. "Okay." 

They gave each other one last kiss on the lips before heading back.


	2. Changing Ourselves

Rinko found herself out of breath once again after the two had ran all the way to the lake with the fireflies. Especially now that she had the added weight of her bag containing all the things she wanted and needed to bring with her. 

"Aaaand we're here again!" Kokoro turned to the out of breath Rinko. "So, what do you think we should do?" Kokoro seemed perfectly fine somehow. She wasn't out of breath, even when she ran here with a heavy bag of her own, but also she didn't seem bothered that she was about to run away from her family, while Rinko had been thinking about it all day.

"You don't have any ideas?" Rinko asked. 'Then again..Kokoro's ideas might be a little..chaotic.' She thought.

"No, I do! But..I don't think you'll like it very much! That's what my maid Misaki said anyway." 

Rinko widened her eyes. "You..told someone what we were doing?" 

"Yeah, I tell Misaki everything! I was just bursting with joy that we kissed and I just had to tell someone! But then I just ended up telling her everything." Kokoro noticed how panicked Rinko seemed because of this. "It's okay, Misaki won't tell my parents. She already knows how I've been wanting to get away and she hasn't told them that yet, so why would she say anything now?" 

"I guess..you're right." Rinko wasn't sure what to think of this. Kokoro tells her maid everything? That must mean they're close. Are maids and princesses supposed to be close? Her maid Sayo wasn't even aware that she's been wanting to run away for a long time now. 

"Anyways, tell me some of your ideas!" Kokoro said. 

Rinko did have an idea as to where they could go for the time being, but she wasn't sure if it was a good idea. She was worried that they might get caught. "Well..there is that village that's nearby here..why don't we head there for now?" 

"Okay!" Kokoro grabbed Rinko by the hand and began to run in the direction of the village. Rinko had a feeling that she could have suggested the worst possible idea and Kokoro still would have been okay with doing it. 

"Wait Kokoro, we don't have to run!" Rinko said, still tired from all the running they did to get to the lake. 

"Whoops, sorry! Running is just so much fun that I wanted to do it again! But walking's fun too." Kokoro slowed down and started to walk, much to Rinko's relief. She might just pass out from exhaustion if she were to run anymore. 

During the walk to the village, Kokoro filled the silence with her singing. She sang a bunch of songs, some Rinko hadn't even heard of. Rinko joined in a couple times, but she mostly just listened. Kokoro's voice was kind of calming and Rinko didn't feel as nervous as she did before. 

"Hey, Kokoro.." 

"Yeah?" 

"Do you think people will recognize us?" Rinko just realized that maybe it would be good for them to be wearing some sort of disguise. "We're princesses, so.." 

"It would be kinda weird if they didn't recognize us." Kokoro's face then lit up. "Ooh, we can pretend to be people we aren't! This'll be so much fun!" She set her bag down and dug through it, soon pulling out two long, gowns with sleeveless tunics. "Misaki did mention that a disguise would be useful, I'd forgotten that she said that!" 

Rinko could only stare. "I'm guessing..those suit people got this clothing for us?" Rinko never saw anything like it before. Her mother would probably faint if she saw Rinko wearing it. 

Kokoro nodded. "I asked them to get me something that a princess would definitely not wear. They came back with this." She grinned. "We should probably get changed!" 

"What? Right..now..?" 

"Yeah!" Kokoro handed Rinko the clothing. "I'll go behind that tree!" She said, running over to a tree, the clothing in hand. 

"Guess..I'll go over to that one." Rinko said, walking over to a tree and getting behind it, quickly changing. 

When she was finished, she moved out from behind the tree and saw Kokoro pulling out a pair of scissors from her bag. When Kokoro noticed Rinko staring at the scissors, she smiled. "Misaki said a haircut would help so that people don't recognize us." 

"A..haircut.." Rinko repeated, walking over to Kokoro as she wondered what her mother would think of her getting a haircut. 

"Yeah! I'll cut your hair first, then you can cut mine!" The blonde said, snipping the scissors. 

"Do you..know what you're doing?" Rinko asked as she sat down in front of Kokoro. 

"Nope! But it's just supposed to look different, right?" Kokoro said, humming to herself as she began to cut off pieces of Rinko's hair. 

Rinko internally sighed, feeling her heart drop when she heard those words come from Kokoro's mouth. She stayed still though, listening to Kokoro's humming.

"Aaand..there we go! All done!" Kokoro grabbed a mirror from her bag and handed it to Rinko. "What do you think?" 

Rinko was surprised that her hair didn't look too bad. Her hair was now shoulder length. It was surprising to see, she was more used to her long, dark hair. "It looks good..thank you, Kokoro. Now..it's your turn." 

Kokoro handed Rinko the scissors and sat down in front of her, seeming excited to get her hair cut. 

Rinko grabbed a piece of Kokoro's blonde hair. "Kokoro..your hair is so beautiful, are you sure you want it cut?" 

"Yep!" Was all she said. Rinko stared at Kokoro's long, blonde hair for a moment longer before beginning to cut it. 

When she was finished, Kokoro's hair reached a little bit above her shoulders. Rinko hoped the blonde wouldn't say it looked too bad as she handed her the mirror. 

"Rinko, it looks great! Thank you!" Kokoro beamed, standing up and hugging Rinko. 

"Oh..you're welcome.." Rinko wasn't expecting a hug, but she hugged her back. 

"I think we're perfectly disguised now!" Kokoro put the mirror and scissors away as well as the nightgowns they had been wearing before. "But should we keep the nightgowns? I was thinking we should burn them!" 

"Why..would we do that?" Rinko asked, not seeing why they'd so something like that. "We could use them in the future.." 

"Hm..I guess you're right!" Kokoro stuffed their nightgowns into her bag. "Do you think we should come up with names for our disguised selves?" 

"I guess so.." Rinko began to think of a name for herself. "Maybe..I could go by Yui?" 

"And I'll be..Koko!" 

Rinko laughed a bit at that. "Maybe..you could go with something different? It's too close to your actual name.." 

"Aw, alright..then what about Kaori?" 

"It sounds pretty..it suits you." Rinko grabbed onto Kokoro's hand. "I feel ready..to go." 

"I do too! Let's go!" 

Kokoro and Rinko grabbed their bags and began to walk towards the village.


	3. Your Majesty

"Oh, Kokoro! Where could she have gone?" Sobbed Queen Tsurumaki. 

"I'm sure she'll be back soon, your majesty." Misaki said, in an attempt to calm her somewhat, though she knew the truth. Kokoro wasn't coming back anytime soon. 

"Yes..yes, I'm sure she will. You're right, Misaki. I'm sure she just got lost." Queen Tsurumaki wiped the tears from her face. "I just hope she'll be back soon. We're supposed to be having another meeting with that prince again sometime soon." 

"Yes.." Misaki wanted to ask if they ever even asked for Kokoro's opinion on marrying a prince she never even spoken to before. "Would you like some tea, your majesty?" 

"No. How about you clean Kokoro's room? Knowing that girl, I'm sure it's a mess. I want it looking spotless for when Kokoro returns." 

"Yes, your majesty." Misaki began making her way to Kokoro's room, all the while wondering what Kokoro might be up to at this very moment. 'She said that she and Rinko were going to run away and live happily together..but will she even be able to make it a few days out there?' 

Misaki opened the door to Kokoro's room, only to find that it really wasn't very messy. 'It's clean, for the most part..' 

Misaki stood in the doorway for a moment. It was starting to sink in that Kokoro really wasn't here anymore. 

'Usually, when I walk into her room she's right there, on the bed, reading a picture book or something..' Misaki felt a smile start to form. 'Then she'd start talking my ear off about Rinko..' 

Misaki noticed a picture laying on the floor. She walked over to it and picked it up. It was a picture of Kokoro and Rinko as children. The two had big smiles on their faces. 

'I wonder what it was doing on the ground..I would have thought Kokoro would bring this photo with her..' Misaki then shook her head. 'I have work to do. I can't get distracted.' She placed the picture down on Kokoro's bedside table. 'It's really not that messy in here, but there are some clothes laying on the ground..'

Misaki began to pick up and fold some of the clothes that Kokoro had left on the ground. 'I hope..she's doing okay..'

__________________

"That girl! What was she thinking?!" 

Queen Shirokane had been pacing around the room while yelling for the past 10 minutes. All Sayo could do was watch. 

"Who runs away in the middle of the night?!" 

Sayo wondered if the queen had considered the possibility that Rinko could have been kidnapped or even worse. "Your majesty--" 

The queen whirled around to face Sayo. "Quiet." 

Sayo couldn't look her in the eyes. She instead stared down at the floor. "Yes, your majesty. I'm sorry." 

The queen then sighed. "I can't believe she wants to embarrass me like this..I suppose I have no choice. I'll just have some of the guards go and find her." Her angry, violet eyes wandered over to Sayo. "Sayo, for the time being I'm forgiving your rude behavior. Go find Yukina and Ran. Tell them the queen wants to see them. They should be on their lunch break right now, so go look outside." 

Sayo nodded. "Yes, your majesty." 

She then walked out of the room, feeling the queen's eyes on her all the while. She walked through the castle, trying not to think too much about Rinko and what could have happened. 'Rinko couldn't have run away..she simply wouldn't have the courage to..she knows perfectly well how mad the queen would be if she did..' 

Suddenly, a loud voice called out to her. "Onee-chan! What are you doing?" 

"Hina?" Sayo turned around, seeing her sister running towards her. "Aren't you supposed to be cleaning? If you aren't doing your job, then the queen will--" 

"Don't worry, I'm almost done! And I'll get back to doing it real soon! But I started to wonder how it went with the queen. Was she really mad?" 

"Hina, I don't think now is the time to talk." Sayo began to take a few steps towards the door that would lead her outside. "If the queen sees that you aren't doing what she asked, then..you know what will happen, right?" 

Hina was quiet for a bit. "Yeah..yeah, I know. But cleaning isn't as boppin' when you've been doing it for so long." 

"I can understand that, but..just get back to work. I'll tell you what happened later." 

Hina nodded, beginning to walk back to the room that she had been in the middle of cleaning. "Alright..see you later, onee-chan!" 

Sayo watched Hina leave. She couldn't help but wonder if she had the opportunity to choose a different path in life, would she? 

She shook the thought from her head. The queen gave her something to do, so now she must do it. She didn't have time to be thinking about something silly like that. 

Sayo walked out the door, immediately bringing her hand up to her eyes to shield them from the bright sun that was shining down. 

She looks around and notices Yukina and Ran who were standing around, eating. When Sayo walked towards them, the two looked up. 

"Oh, it's the maid." Yukina said. "Do you need something?" 

"The queen does, actually. She wants to see you. Both of you." 

Sayo took note of how both of them tensed up a bit at that. The two glance at one another. "What does she want?" Ran asks, a hint of panic in her voice. 

"She wants you two to look for Shirokane-san." Sayo says. "Now, come on." 

Sayo turns and begins heading back to the queen, Yukina and Ran following behind her. She notices how Yukina and Ran seem a bit more relaxed now. She wonders why that is. 

Soon enough, Sayo returns to the queen with Yukina and Ran. 

"Oh, good. You've done what I asked." The queen nods in approval. "Though, you took a bit longer than I expected." 

'I wasn't gone for too long, was I?' Sayo thought, a bit panicked. 'No, I was going as fast as I could..' 

"But how long you took is the least of my worries." The queen looks at Yukina and Ran. "I want you two to find my daughter and bring her home." 

"As you wish, your majesty." The two answered. 

"Good. Go take two of the horses with you. I want her back as soon as possible. Understood?" 

"Yes, your majesty." They say.


	4. Eyes

"I was so worried that she had found out." Ran said once they were on two horses and far away from the castle. 

"I was as well.." Yukina looked over at Ran, who was now looking ahead. It was silent for a moment, the only sound being heard was nature and the horses that were walking. 

"If she did find out..what would we do?" Ran asked after a while. 

Yukina didn't know. "Maybe we'd have to stop being guards..or maybe we'd run away to somewhere better like Rinko." 

Ran frowned. "If that's even what she did. She could have been kidnapped for all we know." 

"That's a possibility..but if I were Rinko, I would have run away a long time ago." 

Ran thought back to all the times the queen yelled at Rinko for the smallest things. She wasn't sitting up straight, she wasn't making eye contact with people, the list goes on and on. "You never saw Rinko get into fights with anyone, did you?" Ran asked suddenly.

"No, never." Yukina gave the girl a confused look. "Why?" 

"It's just..I've seen bruises on her before, so I thought that maybe.." Ran trailed off, realization hitting her. 

"Ran? Are you--" 

"Woah! Horses!" 

Yukina was cut off by a loud voice. All of a sudden, the two saw a girl with brown hair running up to them, a girl with blonde hair tied into pigtails following after her. 

The girl looked at the two, an excited look on her face. "Can I pet your horses?" She asked. 

"Um.." Ran couldn't keep eye contact with the girl and her grip on the reins tightened. 

Yukina looked at the girl and opened up her mouth to reply, but she was interrupted once again. 

"Kasumi! What are you doing?! You're bothering these people!" The girl with blonde hair said, grabbing the girl by the hand and attempting to pull her away. "I'm so sorry." She said to Yukina and Ran, an apologetic smile on her face. 

"It's not really a problem..if she wants to pet the horses.." Ran said quietly, still avoiding eye contact. 

"What was that?" The girl with blonde hair asked. 

"She can pet the horses if she wants." Yukina said. "It's not that big of a deal." 

"Really?" Kasumi's face lit up and she ripped her hand from the girl's grasp, beginning to pet the two horses. 

"You're like a child.." The other girl said, though there was a small smile on her face. She then looked over at Yukina and Ran. "So, what are you two doing out here? You look important." 

"We're looking for someone." Yukina said as she pulled out a picture of Rinko that the queen had given her before they left. "Have you seen her?" 

The girl looked at the picture for a moment and then shook her head. "I don't think I have, sorry." 

"That's fine." Yukina placed the picture back into her pocket. She then looked at the sun that was now setting. "You wouldn't happen to know a place where we could stay for the night, would you?" 

"You can stay at Arisa's house!" Kasumi said, a grin on her face. 

"Kasumi!" Arisa glared. "I just met these people! Why would I let them stay at my house?!" 

"We have a girl to look for, we wouldn't waste our time stealing anything or whatever you think we might do." Yukina really didn't feel like sleeping outside tonight, so she was willing to argue for this. 'Besides, I don't want Ran to sleep in the cold..' She found herself thinking. 

Arisa stared at the two for a moment. She sighed. "Fine, you can stay at my place. But only for tonight." 

"Thank you." Yukina could feel relief wash over her. 

"I'll walk Kasumi home, then we can head over to my place." Arisa said. 

"What? But I wanna sleep over your house!" Kasumi whined. 

"You've been sleeping over my house for like, 3 days now!" Arisa said as they started to walk. "I think it's about time you head back home! Asuka is probably wondering when you're coming back!" 

"Okay..but I'm definitely coming over tomorrow!" 

Yukina tuned out their conversation, instead looking over at Ran, who seemed nervous. "Do you want me to hold your hand?" She asked. 

Ran felt her cheeks heating up as she nodded. Yukina grabbed onto her hand, a small smile on her face. "I don't think she'll ever find out..but if she did, I think we can handle whatever she throws at us." 

_________________

"Here you go..sir.." Rinko set down a plate of handmade cake onto a table. She was grateful for everything that had happened since she and Kokoro walked into this village-- they ran into Tsugumi Hazawa, who had offered them her home and a job after Kokoro quickly came up with a cover story on the spot. They were Yui and Kaori who had been kicked out of their houses and had since been travelling all over, singing for money. 

Rinko didn't like having to lie like that to such a nice person like Tsugumi, but that lie did give them a home and a job.

"Thank you, Yui." The man smiled, then looked down at his place. His smile quickly turned into a frown. "Hey wait, this isn't what I ordered!" 

Rinko blinked and could only see her mother's face frowning at her. Her hands started to shake. "I'm..I'm sorry..I'll do better..I promise.." 

She could see her mother towering over her, her frown still there. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry.." She could feel a tear roll down her cheek and quickly other tears began to follow. 

Her mother reached out a hand to Rinko and her eyes widened, a scream escaping her lips. 

Rinko felt herself tense up when she felt a hand on her shoulder. She looked over and saw Tsugumi standing there, concern in her eyes. Kokoro stood beside her, looking just as worried. 

Rinko's mother quickly disappeared and in her place was the man who just looked confused. 

"Yui, are you okay? What happened?" Tsugumi asked. 

Rinko noticed the eyes of the other customers were on her. She felt shame and embarrassment begin to take hold of her. "I just..messed up." She answered in a quiet voice, wishing she could just sink into the floor and disappear from here. 

"But you screamed!" Tsugumi seemed surprised by what Rinko said. 

Rinko could only focus on the other eyes staring at her. She stared down at her still shaking hands and wondered if everyone was thinking about how annoying she is. "I..I know..I'm sorry, it won't happen again.." 

Rinko looked at Tsugumi, expecting her concern-filled eyes to have changed. But they hadn't. "How about you go home for today, Yui?" Tsugumi said.

Rinko felt like a knife just pierced her heart. She failed. 'I couldn't even do this..' She thought. "Okay.." She replied, blinking back the tears that were quickly coming back. 

People resumed what they were doing. The eyes on Rinko slowly disappeared except for one. Kokoro watched Rinko, feeling the sadness seeping out of her. She wondered if there was anything she could do.


	5. Something Different

"Rinko! I'm home!" Kokoro yelled the second she walked into Tsugumi's house. "Tsugumi is staying behind a bit longer to clean up! You know, I wanted to stay behind a bit longer to help, but she didn't want me to!" Kokoro started giggling, remembering what happened last time. "I guess she didn't like me using sponges as shoes last time. But I think that made cleaning a lot more fun and faster!" 

It was silent in the house. "Rinko?" Kokoro called out. There was no response. "Hey Rinko, are you here?" Once again, there was no response. 

Kokoro began walking to the room that they share. She opened up the door and poked her head into the room. "Rinko?" 

She saw Rinko laying down in her bed, her eyes shut and her chest rising and falling with each breath she took. "Oh, you're just sleeping." Kokoro whispered, a smile on her face. 

She slowly shut the door and tiptoed out of the house, deciding that maybe she could do some exploring while Rinko was sleeping. She was certain she'd be back before Rinko woke up. 

Practically skipping out the door, Kokoro looked around, wondering where she should go first. 

She decided to just start walking and go wherever her feet take her. 

Kokoro soon found herself standing before the woods. Curious, she decided to walk in, admiring the scenery around her. 'I should come here with Rinko sometime..' 

"Are you sure no one is around?" 

"Yes. It's just us." 

Kokoro then heard two voices nearby. She looked around and soon spotted two girls. One had chin-length hair and red eyes. She looked pale and seemed nervous. The other girl had her hair tied into low pigtails and her eyes were green. She had a big smile on her face as she held an umbrella over the two of them, even though it wasn't raining.

Kokoro quickly hid behind a tree and watched the two girls, wondering what it was they were doing. 

"Himari, are you sure you don't mind?" The girl with chin-length hair asked, worry in her red eyes. 

"I think I've told you, what, 100 times now?" The girl apparently called Himari giggled as she placed a kiss on the girl's cheek. "I don't mind at all, Rimi. It doesn't hurt me." 

"I know, but.." Rimi trailed off. 

"You need this to survive." Himari said and brought her wrist up to Rimi's mouth. "I honestly don't mind." 

"Okay..if you're sure." 

Kokoro watched as Rimi opened up her mouth, revealing fangs. Her fangs dug into Himari's wrist and she began to suck her blood. 

'Woah..are they playing pretend or something?' Kokoro thought, not quite sure if what she was seeing was true or not. 

Himari winced a little, but other than that she didn't seem to be in pain. Kokoro continued to stare, certain that this must be some sort of game the two were playing. 

Soon, Rimi finished and Himari pulled her wrist away. 

Rimi smiled. "Thank you for always letting me do this." 

"Like I said, I don't mind at all!" 

The two stare at one another for a moment. Himari then leans forward and kissed Rimi's lips. Kokoro quickly looks away as the two have their moment. She begins to quietly make her way out of the woods, feeling like that was enough exploring for one day. 

 

___________________

"Ohhh. So the queen is sending Ran and Yukina to look for princess Rinko." 

"Yep." 

Sayo and Hina were currently lying on their backs in their separate beds as the sun had now set and the moon took it's place. Sayo had just finished relaying to Hina what has been going on and now stared up at the ceiling. 

"Hmm..if I were the queen, I'd just let Rinko go." 

Sayo looked over at Hina, though it was too dark in the room to really be able to make out her face. "She can't really do that though. Shirokane-san is the heir to the throne and is supposed to be marrying that prince." 

"Well that doesn't sound very boppin'. If I were Rinko, I'd run away too." 

Sayo sighed. "She can't just run from her duties as a princess like that." 

Hina glanced at her twin. "Onee-chan, wouldn't you get bored if you were a princess? I think being a princess would start to get boring after a while." 

"I'd do what is expected of me." She replied after thinking about it for a moment. "But luckily, we aren't princesses. We're just..maids." 

"Even being a maid gets kind of boring after a while, don't you think? It's the same thing everyday! We do laundry, we clean the house, we cook, all of it is sooo boring!" Hina sat up in her bed. "I think we could do something that is way more boppin' than this!" 

"Yes, I'm sure you could." Sayo rolled over in her bed, her back now facing Hina. 

"No, I said--" 

"You can do absolutely anything if you really wanted to, Hina. This kind of work is..probably all I can do. Though, you are way better at being a maid than I am. You could probably eat off of any floor you clean. I'm decent at best." Sayo didn't mean to say any of that, it just all came out all of a sudden. She pulled the blanket over her head. 

"Onee-chan.." 

"Don't say anything and just go to sleep. We have to get up early tomorrow." 

"But..I wanted to talk some more." She heard Hina say in a quiet voice. 

"I said go to sleep." Sayo closed her eyes and tried to force herself to drift off to sleep. She wanted to forget that this conversation even happened. 

"And our conversation was going so well.." Hina felt like any conversation they ever had these days made her feel sad. She laid back down on her bed, though she didn't plan on sleeping. 

After a while, she heard quiet snores coming from Sayo. She got out of bed and quietly walked out of their room and headed towards the door. 

She quickly made her towards a certain someone's house, trying desperately to figure out what she could do for Sayo. 

Once she was there, Hina swung the door open. She saw that the girl was holding onto a wand, levitating some books. She jumped when the door was swung open and let out a yelp. All of the books immediately fell to the ground and she whirled around to face Hina, a nervous look on her face. She let out a sigh of relief when she saw it was just the teal-haired girl. "Oh, it's just you, Hina.." 

"Aya!" Hina immediately hugged the girl and began to feel warm, fuzzy feelings. They quickly began to replace the bad feelings that had taken hold of her. "I think Onee-chan is mad at me!" 

"Oh, um.." Aya tried to think of something to say. She wasn't prepared for something like this. She had only planned on practicing her spells, not giving out advice, especially this late at night. "Do you..wanna sit down and talk about it?" 

Hina nodded and sat down on Aya's couch, the witch sitting down beside her. She quickly spilled everything that happened, Aya intently listening to every word. 

"So..Sayo suddenly got mad at you and you don't know why?" 

"Yeah! We were just talking and then suddenly she didn't want me to say anything and to just go to sleep." Hina thought back to what Sayo said and frowned. "I just don't get it. Guess I said something bad again." Hina could feel sadness wrapping itself around her. 

Aya looked over at Hina, concerned. "I don't think you said anything bad, Hina..but maybe you and Sayo should have a talk." 

"Yeah.." Hina's eyes wandered over to the books that had fallen to the ground earlier when she barged in. "Hey, do you think that maybe you can show me some spells?" 

"Uh..well..I can do a few?" Aya stood up and grabbed her wand. "I'm not as good as my parents were though." 

"I know, even though you try so hard you never seem to get any better." Hina's words were rather harsh, but she said it with a cheerful tone and a smile. 

"Haha..yeah." Aya had kinda gotten used to hearing this from Hina after knowing her for a little while. She grabbed her spellbook that had fallen to the floor and began to try to find the spell she had been looking at earlier. 

"I just don't get why people don't like you very much." Hina said as she laid down on Aya's couch and watched her flip through pages. 

Aya froze mid-page flip. 

"I mean, you're such a cool person and you make my heart go bumbumbum! And people don't like you just because you can kinda do spells?" 

A smile came to Aya's face when she heard Hina's words. "I've thought about it before too..and I think it's because I'm something different." 

"But you don't look different. You just go whoosh with your wand and you ride a broomstick! That's all." 

"Still..My parents and I..we're probably the only ones who aren't like the rest." Aya continued to flip through the spellbook until she found the spell that she had been looking at earlier. 

Hina watched as Aya began to chant the spell and raised her wand. Soon, the books began to levitate. "Hmm..no, there are probably more than just witches walking around here. I mean, if I could meet a witch, then I'd say there might be a chance I might run into, I don't know, a vampire or something! That'd be pretty boppin'!" 

Aya felt herself smiling again. "Yeah, it would be pretty cool.."


	6. Eggs & Haunting Thoughts

Ran's eyes cracked open, sun shining directly in her face. She groaned in annoyance and attempted to sit up, but she quickly came to the realization that her girlfriend had wrapped her arms around her and moving around too much might wake up her up. So, Ran decided to just lay there for a while. 

She glanced over at Yukina, who's face was rather close to her own. 'She's so cute..' She thought, a small smile making it's way onto her face. 

Her eyes then moved to look up at the ceiling. She could hear two faint voices. One belonged to Arisa and the other was Kasumi. 'I guess she did end up coming over..' 

She couldn't quite make out what they were saying, but there was occasional laughter here and there, so it must be about something good. 

Ran glanced over at Yukina once again. Her mind soon began to sift through memories they had made together. 

She could remember when there was a mother cat and her kittens living nearby the castle. Yukina frequently visited them during their lunch break. She even gave all of them names. Ran enjoyed watching Yukina's face light up whenever the mother cat would rub up against her legs. 

She could also remember how heartbroken Yukina was when one day they made the trip to see the mother cat and her kittens, but they were nowhere to be found. She was aware how hard Yukina was trying to hide how she felt about it, but it was easy for Ran to see how heartbroken their sudden absence made her feel.

Sudden movement from Yukina pulled Ran out of the memory and back into reality. She watched as her girlfriend's eyes slowly opened. 

"Good morning." Ran said, watching as the silver-haired girl's face slowly became red when she realized that she had wrapped her arms around Ran sometime in the night. 

"I didn't mind it." Ran couldn't help but think of how cute Yukina looked once again. 

"Really?" Yukina kept her arms tightly wrapped around Ran, as if her grip loosening would mean losing her forever. "Then..I'll continue doing it." 

The two stayed like that for a moment, surrounded in their own comfortable silence. 

Ran could hear the birds chirping. She closed her eyes, listening to them. 

"Do you think we should be getting up now?" Yukina asked after a while of this silence between them.

"Yeah..we still have to find Rinko." Ran replied. Yukina pulled herself away from Ran, unwrapping her arms from her body, and got out of the bed.

Ran did the same, yawning and getting out of the bed, stretching. "Where do you think she could be?" 

"Hopefully not too far. I'd like to find her as quickly as possible." 

Ran felt like there was something wrong with what they were doing. If Rinko did run away, then they'd just be dragging her back to a place she was clearly trying to escape from.

"Yukina..are we doing the right thing?" 

Yukina seemed a little surprised by the question. That was not a question neither of them really asked when the queen of all people was barking orders at them and it was their duty to obey. 

"I..don't know. I mean, I think if that woman was my mother, I would have wanted to get away from her too." She sighed. "But..if we don't bring her back soon, then the queen might send people after us or something of the sort.." 

The idea of people coming after them made Ran nervous. She didn't like the idea of it.

She thought of the princess. Ran could remember how the girl would quietly greet her when they'd pass by one another. She recalled the empty and blank look her violet eyes had when Ran glanced over at her. 

Rinko was unhappy, there was no doubt about that. But Ran also knew how furious the queen would be if they disobeyed her and returned without the princess. 

"What if Rinko doesn't want to come back with us?" Ran asked, deciding to think about what was right and wrong at a later time. 

"She doesn't really have a choice." Yukina's words didn't quite match with her expressions. Ran noticed the slight worry in her eyes. 

Yukina always did as the queen said, no questions asked. So if even she was questioning the order they were given..

"We're wasting time by just standing here. Let's get going." Yukina said.

"Right." 

The two made their way out of the room and into the kitchen, where Arisa and Kasumi were, still deep in conversation. Arisa soon took notice of their presence. "Oh, you're finally up." 

Kasumi grinned at them. "Good morning!" 

Ran looked at the floor as if it was the most interesting thing in the world. "Good morning.." 

"Yes, good morning to you as well." Yukina replied, making her way towards the front door. She looked over at Arisa. "I appreciate you letting us stay at your house, but we must be going." 

"Uh, okay." Arisa replied while Kasumi frowned. "Aw, can't you at least stay for breakfast?" 

Breakfast. That's right. Yukina didn't even realize until now just how hungry she was. She took a quick glance in Ran's direction. 'Ran's probably hungry..' 

Yukina looked over at Arisa once more. "Well..we may stay for a while longer if it's alright with you." 

"Yay!" Kasumi cheered, Arisa watching her for a moment before rolling her eyes. "Fine. Stay for breakfast, I don't care." 

___________

Breakfast was eggs and toast. Yukina thought it tasted alright. She gave the majority of her breakfast to Ran though, who gave her a look of confusion. 

"Yukina, what are you doing? You need to eat too." 

"Just take it." Yukina replied as she took a bite of her now small portion of breakfast. 

Ran frowned and slid her more fuller plate over to Yukina, taking the silver-haired girl's plate. "How about you take mine instead?" 

"Ran, come on.." Yukina reached over to get her plate back, but Ran held it out of her reach. 

Arisa suddenly stood up before she had to witness this continue on. "How about I just make more?" 

As Arisa got up and went into the kitchen, Kasumi stared at Yukina and Ran with interest. "So, you guys are looking for someone?" 

Yukina nods. "Yes..a girl." 

"Hmm." Kasumi leaned back into her chair, a contemplative look on her face. "You know, the girl in that picture you showed us..I feel like I've seen her somewhere before." 

"Really? Do you remember where it was you think you saw her?" Ran asks. 

"Mm..well, there's this girl that showed up recently. Apparently, she and this other girl have been travelling around and singing for money! They're really cool! Jeez, wish I could go around and sing for money too..ooh, I wonder if Arisa would do it with me!" Kasumi giggled a bit, perhaps imagining what that would be like. "Oh, but anyway! I just think that girl-- I think her name was Yui? -- and the girl in the picture look kinda similar! Maybe Yui secretly has a twin or something!" 

Yukina takes in this information for a moment. "I see..well, thank you for this information." 

Kasumi grins. "You're welcome!"

Ran pushes her food around on her plate a bit, glancing at Kasumi. "Do you know where this Yui person is?" 

"I've seen her working at Tsugumi's cafe." 

Yukina looks over at Ran, seeing how deep in thought she now seems to be. 

"Okay, eggs are almost done." Arisa says are she enters the room just as Yukina was about to ask Ran if there was anything she was thinking about. Yukina decides to hold off on asking for now. 

She figured they were probably thinking the same thing anyway. 

___________

"We appreciate your hospitality." Yukina says, standing near the front door with a now full stomach. 

"Yeah. No problem." Arisa feels her face quickly heat up when Kasumi wraps her arms around her, a big smile on her face. "You guys should come visit us sometime!" 

"You say that as if you live here too! Though I guess you kinda do at this point.." Arisa says that last part a bit quietly, though Yukina was still able to hear it. 

An amused smile surfaces on Yukina's face. "We can..consider it, I suppose." The likelihood of them ever visiting was slightly low though. 

Yukina and Ran were soon back on the road with their horses. 

"So..what do you think?" Yukina asks. 

"You mean about this Yui person?" 

Yukina nods. Ran thinks for a moment. 

"Well..just because two people look similar, doesn't mean they are the same person. But..I think it'd be worth checking out. It's the only lead we really have anyway." 

'She's not wrong..' Yukina thinks. "Then I suppose we'll head over to Tsugumi's cafe then..wherever that is." 

"We can just ask around. It can't be too hard to find." Ran looks ahead, tightening her grip on the reins a bit. She still can't help but wonder if this is even the right thing to do.

___________

_"Honey, what happened?!"_

_The question left Aya's mother's lips the second the girl returned from playing outside and the woman took one look at her daughter's face. She hurried over to her and placed her hands on her shoulders, eyes inspecting the new bruises on her face that hadn't been there when she left._

_"These girls..th-they said th-that..witches are weird and creepy..a-and lots of other horrible th-things!" Aya sobbed. "And then..and then..!"_

_Aya's mother could already guess what happened next, considering the bruises. She pulled the still crying child into a tight hug. "They were wrong, Aya."_

_Aya widened her eyes when her mother soon disappeared in thin air . Smoke began filling up the room and the crackling of fire echoed through her ears._

_"They were wrong.."_

"Mom!" Aya jolted upright, gasping for air. She looked around in confusion when she found herself in her house and on her couch with no smoke in sight. "Oh..a dream..it was just a terrible dream.." She then took a moment to calm herself down.

"You're okay..everything's okay, Aya.." 

"Aya..? You alright?" 

Aya looked over and saw Hina on the opposite side of her couch. She seemed to be just waking up herself. 

"H-Hina?! What are you still doing here?" 

Hina sits up and yawns. "Well..we were talking last night when all of a sudden you just fell asleep on me! And I didn't really feel like heading back to the castle, so..I just slept here!" 

"But won't you get in trouble with the queen if you aren't at the castle?" Aya asks, worried. 

Hina shrugs. "Eh, I guess. But you're way more boppin' than some boring old castle!" 

Hina excitedly gets off the couch and snatches up Aya's spellbook, apparently not realizing just how flustered she had made Aya with that comment. "Do you have any more spells you can show me?" 

"Ah, well, I can only really do a few of them..and besides, I really think you should head back to the castle! I don't want you to get in trouble.." 

"But it's so boring there, Aya! It's the same thing everyday-- I gotta clean this and clean that-- and I always make the floors sparkle and that's boring too.." Hina then frowns. "And I'll probably just say the wrong thing and make onee-chan mad at me again..can't I just stay here for a little bit longer?" 

Truthfully, Aya wanted her to just stay for a little bit longer too. It's not often she gets visitors. Hina's all she really had. 

But..Aya knew the queen was not the greatest person around. Just the thought of the queen was enough to make her blood boil. 

She didn't want the queen to do anything bad to the only person she has left. 

"Hina, you can just come here again tonight, okay?" Aya says as she gets off her couch and walks up to the girl, gently placing her hand on her shoulder. "I-I'll be waiting for you!" 

Hina stares at Aya for a moment before grinning. "You're an interesting person." 

"Um, thank you..?" 

"Guess I'll be seeing you tonight then!" Hina says, waving goodbye to Aya as she exited her house to return back to the dreary castle.


End file.
